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Baseball?
Apr 4, 2023 19:19:32 GMT -5
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Apr 4, 2023 19:19:32 GMT -5
I am loving the new rules this season. The Brewers, after a bit of a false start at Wrigley on opening day, are romping! And after a few years of being dependent on home runs, they won the next two against the Cubs without any power at all -- just fun, old-fashioned manufactured runs with timely bloops and sassy baserunning, thanks to bigger bases and so little throwing-over to first! Then in their home opener against the Mets they kept up the entertaining small-ball, but added some home runs (including a rookie first career HR being a grand slam)! It's great! And the pitch clock is fantastic, too -- in yesterday's game the Mets violated it four times, including one hitter striking himself out by not setting up in the batter's box quickly enough. Marvelous!! (The reaction shot of Buck Showalter at the bench, listening stony-faced as a bench coach was telling him something, was hilarious. It was like the coach was saying, "Buck, seriously, pitch clock. It's a new rule." And Showalter was like, "No, I think I'd have heard about it if it was. The new rule was about bigger bases, I'm sure of it.") Anyway, my team is full of New Guy magic with a bunch of rookies and off-season acquisitions doing all the hitting, and it's like having a whole new lease on life. SURELY this will keep up, and they'll go 161-1 this season! Like, how long could you extend a game by just like not pitching the ball or throwing it to first base or not stepping up to the plate before there was a pitch clock? Could you just deliberately make a nine inning game with a normal number of at bats and pitches last like six hours, or would the umpire get so pissed off that he’d eventually pull out his little Moleskine notebook that he uses when a pitcher throws a balk and start commonplacing in it or whatever he does in there?
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Liz n Dick
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Post by Liz n Dick on Apr 4, 2023 19:39:16 GMT -5
Like, how long could you extend a game by just like not pitching the ball or throwing it to first base or not stepping up to the plate before there was a pitch clock? Could you just deliberately make a nine inning game with a normal number of at bats and pitches last like six hours, or would the umpire get so pissed off that he’d eventually pull out his little Moleskine notebook that he uses when a pitcher throws a balk and start commonplacing in it or whatever he does in there? It certainly seemed as if games could be extended indefinitely for all the dawdling between pitches. Based on the way things seemed to go, no, the umpires did not run out of patience with all that crap.
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Post by Albert Fish Taco on Apr 5, 2023 8:41:50 GMT -5
I am loving the new rules this season. The Brewers, after a bit of a false start at Wrigley on opening day, are romping! And after a few years of being dependent on home runs, they won the next two against the Cubs without any power at all -- just fun, old-fashioned manufactured runs with timely bloops and sassy baserunning, thanks to bigger bases and so little throwing-over to first! Then in their home opener against the Mets they kept up the entertaining small-ball, but added some home runs (including a rookie first career HR being a grand slam)! It's great! And the pitch clock is fantastic, too -- in yesterday's game the Mets violated it four times, including one hitter striking himself out by not setting up in the batter's box quickly enough. Marvelous!! (The reaction shot of Buck Showalter at the bench, listening stony-faced as a bench coach was telling him something, was hilarious. It was like the coach was saying, "Buck, seriously, pitch clock. It's a new rule." And Showalter was like, "No, I think I'd have heard about it if it was. The new rule was about bigger bases, I'm sure of it.") Anyway, my team is full of New Guy magic with a bunch of rookies and off-season acquisitions doing all the hitting, and it's like having a whole new lease on life. SURELY this will keep up, and they'll go 161-1 this season! Buck Showalter reaction shots are the best
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Liz n Dick
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Post by Liz n Dick on Apr 5, 2023 9:13:26 GMT -5
SNY's broadcasts are so much fun. I was randomly watching that game, and when they did that effect with Showalter's reaction, I was like, "I've been watching the wrong team." (Then I laughed and laughed, because watching the Mets is never the right answer.)
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Post by Desert Dweller on Apr 5, 2023 23:40:44 GMT -5
Another thing I'm happy about for the Brewers this season: the return of Wade Miley! Do I think he's going to pitch well? Not really. But I love him because he looks like Marla Hooch!
Wade Miley is a former DBack. We all liked him when he played here.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Apr 5, 2023 23:47:15 GMT -5
Like, how long could you extend a game by just like not pitching the ball or throwing it to first base or not stepping up to the plate before there was a pitch clock? Could you just deliberately make a nine inning game with a normal number of at bats and pitches last like six hours, or would the umpire get so pissed off that he’d eventually pull out his little Moleskine notebook that he uses when a pitcher throws a balk and start commonplacing in it or whatever he does in there?
Indefinitely! The batter or the pitcher could bring the game to a complete halt. Many hitters on the Red Sox, especially, excelled at this. Standing outside the batters box, taking endless practice swings, adjusting their batting gloves, it was excruciating to watch. I always found hitters to be far more responsible for slowing things down than pitchers. Most pitchers want to move faster, because it helps their pitching rhythm.
Yankees/Red Sox games, regular 9 inning games, started running over 4 hours. It was insane. They were easily the worst offenders.
When MLB first tested the pitch clock it was during the Arizona Fall League, which is after the MLB season ends, and has all the top prospects from every team playing. Those games are generally very cheap to go see. When I went during that season they implemented the pitch clock, I saw far more hitters getting called out than pitcher violations.
I saw the Padres Manny Machado get called out for a batter violation on Monday or Tuesday. He waited around in the batter's box, adjusting his batting gloves, waited until after the 8 second limit and then tried to call time out. The umpire said no and called him out. Then Machado started arguing, so the ump ejected him from the game.
This is great. I am all for this change.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Apr 5, 2023 23:53:00 GMT -5
Sorry, I had trouble parsing this. I think you are making a joke? If so, I approve, and Randy Johnson actually *should* be their mascot. Because the DBacks real mascot is terrible and most fans hate it. The Dbacks have repeatedly responded to fan complaints about this by saying the mascot isn't for us, it is for children.
When I went to a Diamondbacks game in 2016 there there was someone walking around the corridors in a giant foam Randy Johnson costume. I’m guessing he wasn’t the official mascot per se but one of the subcategory of mascot associates that teams use for run around the bases between innings contests (like the Presidents the Nats have or the sausages the Brewers have). He was hilarious and slightly horrifying and all around awesome. Yeah, these aren't mascots. They are gimmicks that many teams use to run the bases in a contest between innings, like the other ones you are citing. I believe the Dbacks "Legends" race was modeled on the Brewers Sausage race.
Somewhere I have a photo of me with the giant Randy Johnson guy. It is really very funny. And way better than the terrible bobcat mascot.
As Liz n Dick says, the Baxter the Bobcat mascot is terrible. I cannot count the number of times that I've heard fans complain. The Dbacks fan sites are filled with complaints about him. Yet the team keeps telling us we don't get it, because the mascot "is for children". As if this is some sort of excuse? Why would children like this?
The Suns have the only decent mascot in Phoenix.
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Post by Powerthirteen on Apr 6, 2023 12:19:12 GMT -5
I am loving the new rules this season. The Brewers, after a bit of a false start at Wrigley on opening day, are romping! And after a few years of being dependent on home runs, they won the next two against the Cubs without any power at all -- just fun, old-fashioned manufactured runs with timely bloops and sassy baserunning, thanks to bigger bases and so little throwing-over to first! Then in their home opener against the Mets they kept up the entertaining small-ball, but added some home runs (including a rookie first career HR being a grand slam)! It's great! And the pitch clock is fantastic, too -- in yesterday's game the Mets violated it four times, including one hitter striking himself out by not setting up in the batter's box quickly enough. Marvelous!! (The reaction shot of Buck Showalter at the bench, listening stony-faced as a bench coach was telling him something, was hilarious. It was like the coach was saying, "Buck, seriously, pitch clock. It's a new rule." And Showalter was like, "No, I think I'd have heard about it if it was. The new rule was about bigger bases, I'm sure of it.") Anyway, my team is full of New Guy magic with a bunch of rookies and off-season acquisitions doing all the hitting, and it's like having a whole new lease on life. SURELY this will keep up, and they'll go 161-1 this season! Like, how long could you extend a game by just like not pitching the ball or throwing it to first base or not stepping up to the plate before there was a pitch clock? Could you just deliberately make a nine inning game with a normal number of at bats and pitches last like six hours, or would the umpire get so pissed off that he’d eventually pull out his little Moleskine notebook that he uses when a pitcher throws a balk and start commonplacing in it or whatever he does in there? In theory the home plate umpire was always empowered to tell pitchers or hitters who were lollygagging that they needed to get it in gear. However, this was *never* done. As a result playoff games would in fact often take well north of four hours to churn through nine innings.
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Apr 6, 2023 12:24:21 GMT -5
Like, how long could you extend a game by just like not pitching the ball or throwing it to first base or not stepping up to the plate before there was a pitch clock? Could you just deliberately make a nine inning game with a normal number of at bats and pitches last like six hours, or would the umpire get so pissed off that he’d eventually pull out his little Moleskine notebook that he uses when a pitcher throws a balk and start commonplacing in it or whatever he does in there? In theory the home plate umpire was always empowered to tell pitchers or hitters who were lollygagging that they needed to get it in gear. However, this was *never* done. As a result playoff games would in fact often take well north of four hours to churn through nine innings. But like, if the batter just stood there for fifteen minutes adjusting his gloves and shit, the umpire could have told him to step up to the plate, theoretically? And at some point, it would get so ridiculous that presumably the umpire would have done so eventually?
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Post by Powerthirteen on Apr 6, 2023 12:31:56 GMT -5
In theory the home plate umpire was always empowered to tell pitchers or hitters who were lollygagging that they needed to get it in gear. However, this was *never* done. As a result playoff games would in fact often take well north of four hours to churn through nine innings. But like, if the batter just stood there for fifteen minutes adjusting his gloves and shit, the umpire could have told him to step up to the plate, theoretically? And at some point, it would get so ridiculous that presumably the umpire would have done so eventually? The ump had the power to at his discretion charge the batter with a strike in that scenario. But like I said, they never ever ever did and it drove me nuts, so I am enthusiastically in favor of this year's rule changes.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Apr 6, 2023 12:34:03 GMT -5
In theory the home plate umpire was always empowered to tell pitchers or hitters who were lollygagging that they needed to get it in gear. However, this was *never* done. As a result playoff games would in fact often take well north of four hours to churn through nine innings. But like, if the batter just stood there for fifteen minutes adjusting his gloves and shit, the umpire could have told him to step up to the plate, theoretically? And at some point, it would get so ridiculous that presumably the umpire would have done so eventually? What was happening was that the batter would step away, adjust his gloves, take practice swings, adjust more stuff, then step into the box, then call time out, and do everything all over again. They would step out and adjust stuff in between every single pitch. It was maddening.
The umpires could tell them to step up to the plate, but this almost never happened. And even if so, the batter could just call time out.
The problem with pitchers wasn't really that they took too long to actually throw the pitch. The delays there were most often caused by excessive throws over to first.
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Baseball?
Apr 6, 2023 13:19:58 GMT -5
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Apr 6, 2023 13:19:58 GMT -5
What happens if a batter swings twice at the same pitch? Can he be called for two strikes on the same pitch?
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Post by Desert Dweller on Apr 6, 2023 17:35:38 GMT -5
What happens if a batter swings twice at the same pitch? Can he be called for two strikes on the same pitch? This can only happen in cartoons.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Apr 8, 2023 22:23:16 GMT -5
This box score needs to go into the Baseball Hall of Fame. This is incredible.
This is not Rookie Ball or Little League. This is at AA level.
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Apr 9, 2023 7:36:46 GMT -5
This box score needs to go into the Baseball Hall of Fame. This is incredible.
This is not Rookie Ball or Little League. This is at AA level.
Did Rocket City just…walk that many people from the other team that they gave up seven runs?
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Post by Ron Howard Voice on Apr 9, 2023 11:32:09 GMT -5
This box score needs to go into the Baseball Hall of Fame. This is incredible.
This is not Rookie Ball or Little League. This is at AA level.
Did Rocket City just…walk that many people from the other team that they gave up seven runs? Yep, in a single inning they walked 6 guys, hit 3 guys (in a row!), and dropped an easy fly ball.
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Post by Ron Howard Voice on Apr 9, 2023 11:34:01 GMT -5
SNY's broadcasts are so much fun. I was randomly watching that game, and when they did that effect with Showalter's reaction, I was like, "I've been watching the wrong team." (Then I laughed and laughed, because watching the Mets is never the right answer.) The Mets TV guys are my favorites in the league. They're especially good when the Mets commit a few errors and Keith gets exasperated and starts ranting about fundamentals, but they're always good. Yesterday somebody baked them a cake and they had the producer hold the cake in front of the camera and then proceeded to roast him and make sure he didn't dare crack a smile on camera.
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Baseball?
Apr 9, 2023 13:25:12 GMT -5
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Apr 9, 2023 13:25:12 GMT -5
Did Rocket City just…walk that many people from the other team that they gave up seven runs? Yep, in a single inning they walked 6 guys, hit 3 guys (in a row!), and dropped an easy fly ball. It doesn’t count as a hit when it’s an error?
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Post by Desert Dweller on Apr 9, 2023 20:16:10 GMT -5
Did Rocket City just…walk that many people from the other team that they gave up seven runs? Yep, in a single inning they walked 6 guys, hit 3 guys (in a row!), and dropped an easy fly ball. Rocket City let all 7 of those runs score when there 2 outs in the final inning. They just needed one out! And instead dropped an easy fly ball that let THREE runs score, hit some players and issued a walk.
Truly amazing. At Double A! That's a legit pro baseball league. These players are better than college players! It is nearly incomprehensible that this could happen.
Needs to go in a display at Cooperstown which celebrates the wackiest minor league games of all time.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Apr 9, 2023 20:25:51 GMT -5
Yep, in a single inning they walked 6 guys, hit 3 guys (in a row!), and dropped an easy fly ball. It doesn’t count as a hit when it’s an error?
Correct. When an error is charged to the defensive team, no hit is credited to the offensive team. So that was 3 runs that scored on that one play, which wasn't a hit. It was an error. A 3 run error.
Here is a video that shows this sequence of events. You can clearly see the defensive player in the outfield stop and set up to catch that ball, and then.... just miss! That doesn't count as a hit for the offense, since clearly the defender *should* have caught the ball.
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Baseball?
Apr 9, 2023 21:09:50 GMT -5
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Apr 9, 2023 21:09:50 GMT -5
It doesn’t count as a hit when it’s an error?
Correct. When an error is charged to the defensive team, no hit is credited to the offensive team. So that was 3 runs that scored on that one play, which wasn't a hit. It was an error. A 3 run error.
Here is a video that shows this sequence of events. You can clearly see the defensive player in the outfield stop and set up to catch that ball, and then.... just miss! That doesn't count as a hit for the offense, since clearly the defender *should* have caught the ball.
This rules. Even better than my favorite baseball play, the balk. Also, I’ve seen some Chattanooga Lookouts games before, back when local team the Carolina Mudcats were double A.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Apr 10, 2023 1:28:59 GMT -5
This rules. Even better than my favorite baseball play, the balk. Also, I’ve seen some Chattanooga Lookouts games before, back when local team the Carolina Mudcats were double A. Balks are very fun to see.
I've never lived in a place with a minor league baseball team. I grew up in Los Angeles, then kind of floated around through 4 different places through high school and college. The small towns I lived in were too small for minor league baseball. And the big cities all had MLB.
But Minor League games look like they are a lot of fun. The tickets must be cheaper than MLB games, and the teams are known for doing fun promotions.
We do see a lot of minor league *players* here, between Spring Training and the AZ Fall League. Spring Training is better if you're just looking for a fun hangout activity. The AZ Fall League is better if you actually want to get a look at the top young prospects.
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Apr 10, 2023 7:56:24 GMT -5
This rules. Even better than my favorite baseball play, the balk. Also, I’ve seen some Chattanooga Lookouts games before, back when local team the Carolina Mudcats were double A. Balks are very fun to see.
I've never lived in a place with a minor league baseball team. I grew up in Los Angeles, then kind of floated around through 4 different places through high school and college. The small towns I lived in were too small for minor league baseball. And the big cities all had MLB.
But Minor League games look like they are a lot of fun. The tickets must be cheaper than MLB games, and the teams are known for doing fun promotions.
We do see a lot of minor league *players* here, between Spring Training and the AZ Fall League. Spring Training is better if you're just looking for a fun hangout activity. The AZ Fall League is better if you actually want to get a look at the top young prospects.
Minor league baseball is a lot of fun. There were two teams nearby me growing up, the aforementioned Mudcats and the Durham Bulls (of the film Bull Durham fame). The Hurricanes are the only team in the area from the highest level of any of the four major professional American sports , but even though games didn’t tend to sell out and tickets were iirc much cheaper than at a lot of other NHL venues at that time, I went to a lot more minor league baseball games as a kid, because 1) yeah, general admission seats in particular tend to be really cheap, and 2) it makes for a good family activity on summer nights. Have not been to a lot of games over the past decade or so, but yeah, minor league baseball is cool. Also, very low stakes; even if your team sucks and loses badly, it’s just minor league baseball so I’m never inclined to be either worried about how this will impact whether they make the playoffs, or playoff seeding, or how awful the team is that they don’t even have a chance of making the playoffs.
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Post by Albert Fish Taco on Apr 10, 2023 10:01:39 GMT -5
It doesn’t count as a hit when it’s an error?
Correct. When an error is charged to the defensive team, no hit is credited to the offensive team. So that was 3 runs that scored on that one play, which wasn't a hit. It was an error. A 3 run error.
Here is a video that shows this sequence of events. You can clearly see the defensive player in the outfield stop and set up to catch that ball, and then.... just miss! That doesn't count as a hit for the offense, since clearly the defender *should* have caught the ball.
I believe that players can make a case to get an error rescored as a hit or vis versa, although I don't know how often this actually happens or how long it'll be till it's too late to change. For example pitchers would prefer something be scored an error because any subsequent run by the person who got on won't count towards their ERA. And both the fielder charged with the error and the batter would prefer it be considered a hit for pure pride reasons as well.
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Post by Powerthirteen on Apr 10, 2023 11:07:37 GMT -5
Correct. When an error is charged to the defensive team, no hit is credited to the offensive team. So that was 3 runs that scored on that one play, which wasn't a hit. It was an error. A 3 run error.
Here is a video that shows this sequence of events. You can clearly see the defensive player in the outfield stop and set up to catch that ball, and then.... just miss! That doesn't count as a hit for the offense, since clearly the defender *should* have caught the ball.
I believe that players can make a case to get an error rescored as a hit or vis versa, although I don't know how often this actually happens or how long it'll be till it's too late to change. For example pitchers would prefer something be scored an error because any subsequent run by the person who got on won't count towards their ERA. And both the fielder charged with the error and the batter would prefer it be considered a hit for pure pride reasons as well. Hits get changed to errors and vice versa relatively frequently, especially on infield plays where the question of whether the fielder could "reasonably" have been expected to make the play gets more subjective. Throwing errors are usually glaringly obvious, but fielding errors are pretty subjective and up to the mood of the official scorer for the game.
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Apr 10, 2023 11:36:20 GMT -5
There's no chance of that guy's error being undone, spoiling Rocket City's no-hit loss though, right?
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Post by Desert Dweller on Apr 11, 2023 2:32:58 GMT -5
There's no chance of that guy's error being undone, spoiling Rocket City's no-hit loss though, right? Probably not.
If the fielder had done something like try to make a diving catch and the ball had bounced out of his glove, that is something that would probably have been called a hit. There is no assumption that you're going to make a diving catch. Or even a missed catch if he'd run right up against the wall/fence.
However, in this case, it was a routine fly ball, he ran back, had time to turn around, stop, and get set with his glove. He just whiffed on it. That is an obvious error.
I think both teams will prefer for it to stay an error because of how crazy the result is.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Apr 11, 2023 2:42:32 GMT -5
I've already stated my firm belief that the Dbacks will not win the World Series this season. It's debatable as to whether they could even make the playoffs.
However, I'd like to credit them with being handed the TOUGHEST opening schedule of any team in MLB and still managing to go 7-4 so far. Sure, the Rays are 10-0. But they are playing cruddy teams. The Dbacks have played 2 series with the Dodgers, a series against San Diego and have just opened a series against the Brewers.
Those are all contending teams. All of those teams are currently over .500, even though the DBacks are 7-4 against them.
Gotta love MLB with that brutal scheduling. Open with 13 games against the Dodgers, Padres and Brewers, with only one day off. In that stretch, the worse the DBacks could do is 7-6.
That is promising that perhaps they won't stink this year. I'm hoping for over .500
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Apr 13, 2023 0:04:24 GMT -5
The Yankees coach guy got excommunicated from a baseball match for screaming at the umpire over a catch being challenged by the Guardians’ coach guy. The catch was obviously not a catch. What’s the point of getting kicked out of a game over that? Is it just that the coach doesn’t really matter because all he has to do is figure out when the pitchers need to stop pitching and set the batting order at the start of the match? Also what’s to stop the coach from just texting his assistants with coaching advice after he gets excommunicated by the umpire??
Also, what happens if the baseball bounces off of the wall and then a defenseman catches it before it hits the ground? Is that an out?
Also one of the Yankees defensemen threw the ball right into one of the umpires’ heads in this match while trying to pass the ball to the catcher; that was kind of a scary moment.
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